Clones man used lady’s porch ‘ as a public urinal’

Court

Published:10:53Friday 10 July 2015

A man who relieved himself on an Aughnacloy woman’s porch has been told to stay south of the border if he wishes to remain out of custody.

East Tyrone Magistrate’s Court heard a solicitor for 47-year-old Thomas McDonagh appeal to the judge to keep his client out of prison claiming that the defendant - who is from Clones - was “willing to do anything” to remain out of custody.

Noting that the vast majority of McDonagh’s offences occurred in the border area, District Judge Bernadette Kelly replied, “If he stayed south of the border, that would help.”

The court had heard how the injured party had returned to her home with her children on Caledon Road in Aughnacloy on the afternoon of May 5 when she heard glass smashing outside.

She went to investigate where she saw McDonagh on her wall at the side of her house. There was a broken beer bottle nearby.

As she approached he undid the front of his jeans and began urinating.

The resident ordered him to stop and to “put it away” but he continued to relieve himself as he walked towards her as she stood near her door and said, “Hello missus.”

Mr Craig Patton, defending, told the court that the facts were “unsavoury ... especially as it happened at a single parent household” but stated that his demeanor had not become agressive.

He said that his client had been at his cousin’s funeral and was “so drunk that he couldn’t even hold a bottle” having been drinking for a long time that day.

Judge Kelly noted that the offence occurred at a time in the afternoon when children would’ve been coming home from school.

“This was disgraceful behaviour,” she told McDonagh. “I fear to think what could have occurred when you chose this lady’s porch as a public urinal.”

She then handed down prison sentences totalling six months which she suspended for two years.